Are you tempted to read this article later? What are you meant to be doing right now? Have you ever procrastinated? Ok, silly question. The topic of overcoming procrastination is widely spoken about. We’ve all procrastinated and we’re all procrastinators in some regard. The reason for that is actually quite simple – we’re wired to procrastinate. Excuse me? Let me explain and then you can argue with me. I give part credit to Tony Robbins and part credit to Psychology Today for these findings. Firstly, we as human beings are all motivated by two key driving forces – pain and pleasure; the need to avoid pain, and the desire to gain pleasure (thank you Tony Robbins). Anything we do in life, is a results of one or both of these forces. Out of the two controlling forces, the need to avoid pain, is generally the one that wins. Why do you think that is? [Read more…]

In this day and age, email has become a necessity for business and it would seem, personal purposes. However, it has also become one of, if not the biggest, time killers of all time. A while ago I featured a post called How To Increase Productivity Instantly and in the number 2 spot I suggested only checking your emails twice a day, never first thing, say an hour before lunch and an hour before the end of your working day. The rest of the time your email client is closed. I came across this a few years ago when i read Tim Ferris’ The Four Hour Work Week. A lot of emails we read and reply to don’t really require our time and affect our productivity in a big way. [Read more…]

Is managing your time a waste of time? Controversial title I hear you say. This is an intriguing article from Entrepreneur.com where Steve Tobac looks at some of the myths associated with ‘time management’. In my top ten tips for effective time management, you’ll have seen that I came across the idea that ‘time management’ is a misdemeanour because one thing in life that we really can’t manage, is time. It’s given to us, and is our most precious commodity. It cannot be replaced. We can, however, manage ourselves, and more importantly, our focus. [Read more…]

I thought this was a fitting video further to the last post on why most people never find their purpose. Here, Seth Godin explains failing until you succeed. We live in a culture that doesn’t encourage entrepreneurship. It doesn’t encourage trying and failing. “Failing” is frowned upon which prevents most people from even trying. In the Industrial Age, trying and failing would be costly. We are no longer living in the Industrial Age though. We’re in the Information Age where trying and failing doesn’t have to cost us anything. The only thing that stops us trying is ourselves – because we’ve been brainwashed into the idea that failure means the end of the world. Starting a business has never been easier – access to information, access to technology, access to tried and tested systems, coaches, mentors and access to capital – if you need it. I’d highly recommend setting aside 20 minutes to watch this video, it’s well worth a watch. [Read more…]

Do you ever a step back to assess what you’re doing with your life is actually what you want to be doing? Are you spending enough quality time with those closest to you? Are you engaging in your favourite activities as much as you’d like to be? Are you making use of your creativity? It’s easy to get sucked into the societal way of thinking, do the 9-5 grind (or 8-6, or 7-7), and lose sight of what actually matters. A survey last year published shocking statistics revealing that two thirds of workers in the US and Canada were dissatisfied with their working lives. Given that we work 5 days out of seven for 48 weeks a year – that’s a massive chunk out of our lives to be dissatisfied isn’t it? [Read more…]

Do you ever wonder what makes the wealthiest people in the world, so wealthy? I find the topic of “success” an interesting one as success leaves clues. (Success is in quotes as of course we all have different definitions of success – but here, I’m referring to wealth.) I don’t believe that the wealthiest people in the world have the biggest brains in the world. It’s their mindset, their psychology and their application to their livelihood. As Einstein once said: “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s that I stay with problems for longer.” [Read more…]

When you look up procrastination in the Oxford English dictionary, you’ll see that procrastination is the ‘action of delaying or postponing something’ and that it is the ‘thief of time’. When you delay doing something, it’ll take longer next time. Tony Robbins actually calls it the silent killer as it creeps up on you. These 7 ways to stop procrastination will help you for sure unless you’re procrastinating by reading this post! Through studying successful people and looking into human psychology since starting this blog, it’s come to my realisation that procrastination is actually what stands between most people and true success and fulfilment. [Read more…]

This article grabbed my attention in a BIG way! I strongly believe procrastination is what stands between most people and true success. Every single one of us has ideas, it’s just that most people procrastinate about them whereas “successful” people take action. I put successful in quotes as success has a different meaning for different people. Fear of failure is the common force which stops most people from taking action or limiting beliefs – which is essentially the same thing. [Read more…]

Every now and again I stumble across an article which I just love and know others will too. Here are 7 reasons to quit your job and follow your dream which I suspect you’ll struggle to argue with. I recently read about a poll that was done in the US and it revealed that two thirds of the US were dissatisfied at work. Given that we typically work 5 days a week for 48 weeks a year (more in the US) that’s one huge chunk out of your life being dissatisfied isn’t it? As creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson points out, we’re all born creative, it’s just the most of us have been educated out of our creativity. [Read more…]

Leading on from last week’s post on how to improve your productivity instantly, these top ten tips for effective time management develop a few of the concepts and present some other ideas that you probably won’t have heard of. Importantly, we human beings are all different and work differently. It’s really about finding out what works for you. I’ve listed my personal top ten which I think you will find very useful.

1) Forget time management – it’s a misdemeanour! Controversial I hear you say? If you think about it, time is the one thing in life that we can’t manage. We’re only dealt with a finite amount of it. I came across this concept from 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Steven Covey. The trick is to manage your focus, rather than time. [Read more…]

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Welcome to Ways To Focus. Together with visitors like you, we are building the biggest and best collection of articles about ways to focus. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, employee, student, athlete or school child with ADHD, you will find all sorts of relevant information on this site which will benefit you. We cover all sorts […]

There’s nothing worse than a rich person who’s chronically angry or unhappy. There’s really no excuse for it, yet I see this phenomenon every day. It results from an extremely unbalanced life, one with too much expectation and not enough appreciation for what’s there. Without gratitude and appreciation for what you already have, you’ll never know true fulfillment. […]

By JEFF SHORE Lost your mojo? Feeling more like life is living you vs. you living it? Forgot how to carpe your diem? Here are ten inspiring quotes to remind you that the best version of your life is fully available to you for the making and the taking! You have what it takes to get […]